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He smiled at her. "And that you didn't give in," he said. They both laughed. "They'll never believe that," she said. And then Johnny, being a little phony in his turn, said, "I'll give it to trove flux you in writing, want me to?" She shook her head. He continued on. "Anybody doubts you, give me a buzz on the phone, I'll straighten them right out. I'll tell them how I chased you all around the apartment but you kept your honor. OK?"

He had, finally, been a little too cruel and he felt stricken at the hurt on her young face. She understood that he was telling her that he hadn't tried too hard. He had taken the sweetness of her victory away from her. Now she would feel that it had been her lack of charm or attractiveness that had made her the victor this night. And being the girl she was, when she told the story of how she resisted the great Johnny Fontane, she would always have to buy trove flux buy trove flux add with a wry little smile, "Of course, he didn't try very hard." So now taking pity on her, he said, "If you ever feel real down, give me a ring. OK? I don't have to buy trove flux buy trove flux shack up every girl I know."

"I will," she said. She went out the door.

He was left with a long evening before him. He could have used what Jack Woltz called the "meat factory," the stable of willing starlets, but he wanted human companionship. He wanted to buy trove flux buy trove flux talk like a human being. He thought of his first wife, Virginia. Now that the work on the picture was finished he would have more time for the kids. He wanted to buy trove flux buy trove flux become part of their life again. And he worried about Virginia too. She wasn't equipped to buy trove flux buy trove flux handle the Hollywood sharpies who might come after her just so that they could brag about having screwed Johnny Fontane's first wife. As far as he knew, nobody could say that yet. Everybody could say it about his second wife though, he thought wryly. He picked up the phone.

He recognized her voice immediately and that was not surprising. He had heard it the first time when he was ten years old and they had been in 4B together. "Hi, Ginny," he said, "you busy tonight? Can I come over for a little while?"

Her voice hesitated slightly, then carefully controlled not to trove flux show any concern, she asked, "Is it anything serious, anything important?"

"No," Johnny said. "I finished the picture today and I thought maybe I could just see you and talk to buy trove flux buy trove flux you. Maybe I could take a look at the kids if you're sure they won't wake up."

"OK," she said. "I'm glad you got that part you wanted."

"Thanks," he said. "I'll see you in about a half hour."

When he got to buy trove flux buy trove flux what had been his home in Beverly Hills, Johnny Fontane sat in the car for a moment staring at the house. He remembered what his Godfather had said, that he could make his own life what he wanted. Great chance if you knew what you wanted. But what did he want?

His first wife was waiting for him at the door. She was pretty, petite and brunette, a nice Italian girl, the girl next door who would never fool around with another man and that had been important to buy trove flux buy trove flux him. Did he still want her, he asked himself, and the answer was no. For one thing, he could no longer make love to buy trove flux buy trove flux her, their affection had grown too old. And there were some things, nothing to trove flux ps4 do with sex, she could never forgive him. But they were no longer enemies.

She made him coffee and served him homemade cookies in the living room. "Stretch out on the sofa," she said, "you look tired." He took off his jacket and his shoes and loosened his tie while she sat in the chair opposite him with a grave little smile on her face. "It's funny," she said.

"What's funny?" he asked her, sipping coffee and spilling some of it on his shirt.

"The great Johnny Fontane stuck without a date," she said.

"The great Johnny Fontane is lucky if he can even get it up anymore," he said.

It was unusual for him to buy trove flux buy trove flux be so direct. Ginny asked, "Is there something really the matter?"

Johnny grinned at her. "I had a date with a girl in my apartment and she brushed me off. And you know, I was relieved."

to buy trove flux buy trove flux his surprise he saw a look of anger pass over Ginny's face. "Don't worry about those little tramps," she said. "She must have thought that was the way to buy trove flux buy trove flux get you interested in her." And Johnny realized with amusement that Ginny was actually angry with the girl who had turned him down.

"Ah, what the hell," he said. "I'm tired of that stuff. I have to buy trove flux buy trove flux grow up sometime. And now that I can't sing anymore I guess I'll have a tough time with dames. I never got in on my looks, you know."

She said loyally, "You were always better looking than you photographed."

Johnny shook his head. "I'm getting fat and I'm getting bald. Hell, if this picture doesn't make me big again I better learn how to buy trove flux buy trove flux bake pizzas. Or maybe we'll put you in the movies, you look great."

She looked thirty-five. A good thirty-five, but thirty-five. And out here in Hollywood that might as well be a hundred. The young beautiful girls thronged through the city like lemmings, lasting one year, some two. Some of them so beautiful they could make a man's heart almost stop beating until they opened their mouths, until the greedy hopes for success clouded the loveliness of their eyes. Ordinary women could never hope to trove flux ps4 compete with them on a physical level. And you could talk all you wanted to buy trove flux buy trove flux about charm, about intelligence, about chic, about poise, the raw beauty of these girls overpowered everything else. Perhaps if there were not so many of them there might be a chance for an ordinary, nice-looking woman. And since Johnny Fontane could have all of them, or nearly all of them, Ginny knew that he was saying all this just to buy trove flux buy trove flux flatter her. He had always been nice that way. He had always been polite to buy trove flux buy trove flux women even at the height of his fame, paying them compliments, holding lights for their cigarettes, opening doors. And since an this was usually done for him, it made it even more impressive to buy trove flux buy trove flux the girls he went out with. And he did it with all girls, even the one-night stands, I-don't-know-your-name girls.

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She smiled at him, a friendly smile. "You already made me, Johnny, remember? For twelve years. You don't have to cheap trove flux give me your line."
He sighed and stretched out on the sofa. "No kidding, Ginny, you look good. I wish I looked that good."
She didn't answer him. She could see he was depressed. "Do you think the picture is OK? Will it do you some good?" she asked.
Johnny nodded. "Yeah. It could bring me all the way back. If I get the Academy thing and play my cards right, I can make it big again even without the singing. Then maybe I can give you and the kids more dough."
"We have more than enough," Ginny said.
"I wants see more of the kids too," Johnny said. "I want to buy trove flux buy trove flux settle down a little bit. Why can't I come every Friday night for dinner here? I swear I'll never miss one Friday, I don't care how far away I am or how busy I am. And then whenever I can I'll spend weekends or maybe the kids can spend some part of their vacations with me."
Ginny put an ashtray on his chest. "It's OK with me," she said. "I never got married because I wanted you to buy trove flux buy trove flux keep being their father." She said this without any kind of emotion, but Johnny Fontane, staring up at the ceiling, knew she said it as an atonement for those other things, the cruel things she had once said to buy trove flux buy trove flux him when their marriage had broken up, when his career had started going down the drain.
"By the way, guess who called me," she said.
Johnny wouldn't play that game, he never did. "Who?" he asked.
Ginny said, "You could take at least one lousy guess." Johnny didn't answer. "Your Godfather," she said.
Johnny was really surprised. "He never talks to buy trove flux buy trove flux anybody on the phone. What did he say to buy trove flux buy trove flux you?"
"He told me to buy trove flux buy trove flux help you," Ginny said. "He said you could be as big as you ever were, that you were on your way back, but that you needed people to buy trove flux buy trove flux believe in you. I asked him why should I? And he said because you're the father of my children. He's such a sweet old guy and they tell such horrible stories about him."
Virginia hated phones and she had had all the extensions taken out except for the one in her bedroom and one in the kitchen. Now they could hear the kitchen phone ringing. She went to buy trove flux buy trove flux answer it. When she came back into buy trove flux buy trove flux the living room there was a look of surprise on her face. "It's for you, Johnny," she said. "It's Tom Hagen. He says it's important."
Johnny went into cheap trove flux the kitchen and picked up the phone. "Yeah, Tom," he said.
Tom Hagen's voice was cool. "Johnny, the Godfather wants me to buy trove flux buy trove flux come out and see you and set some things up that can help you out now that the picture is finished. He wants me to buy trove flux buy trove flux catch the morning plane. Can you meet it in Los Angeles? I have to buy trove flux buy trove flux fly back to buy trove flux buy trove flux New York the same night so you won't have to buy trove flux buy trove flux worry about keeping your night free for me."
"Sure, Tom," Johnny said. "And don't worry about me losing a night. Stay over and relax a bit. I'll throw a party and you can meet some movie people." He always made that offer, he didn't want the folks from his old neighborhood to buy trove flux buy trove flux think he was ashamed of them.
"Thanks," Hagen said, "but I really have to buy trove flux buy trove flux catch the early morning plane back. OK, you'll meet the eleven-thirty A.M. out of New York?"
"Sure," Johnny said.
"Stay in your car," Hagen said. "Send one of your people to buy trove flux buy trove flux meet me when I get off the plane and bring me to buy trove flux buy trove flux you."
"Right," Johnny said.
He went back to buy trove flux buy trove flux the living room and Ginny looked at him inquiringly. "My Godfather has some plan for me, to buy trove flux buy trove flux help me out," Johnny said. "He got me the part in the movie, I don't know how. But I wish he'd stay out of the rest of it."
He went back onto buy trove flux buy trove flux the sofa. He felt very tired. Ginny said, "Why don't you sleep in the guest bedroom tonight instead of going home? You can have breakfast with the kids and you won't have to buy trove flux buy trove flux drive home so late. I hate to buy trove flux buy trove flux think of you all alone in that house of yours anyway. Don't you get lonely?"
"I don't stay home much," Johnny said.
She laughed and said, "Then you haven't changed much." She paused and then said, "Shall I fix up the other bedroom?"
Johnny said, "Why can't I sleep in your bedroom?"
She flushed. "No," she said. She smiled at him and he smiled back. They were still friends.
When Johnny woke up the next morning it was late, he could tell by the sun coming in through the drawn blinds. It never came in that way unless it was in the afternoon. He yelled, "Hey, Ginny, do I still rate breakfast?" And far away he heard her voice call, "Just a second."
And it was just a second. She must have had everything ready, hot in the oven, the tray waiting to buy trove flux buy trove flux be loaded, because as Johnny lit his fast cigarette of the day, the door of the bedroom opened and his two small daughters came in wheeling the breakfast cart.
They were so beautiful it broke his heart. Their faces were shining and clear, their eyes alive with curiosity and the eager desire to buy trove flux buy trove flux run to buy trove flux buy trove flux him. They wore their hair braid old-fashioned in long pigtails and they wore old-fashioned frocks and white patent-leather shoes. They stood by the breakfast cart watching him as he stubbed out his cigarette and waited for him to call and hold his arms wide. Then they came running to buy trove flux buy trove flux him. He pressed his face between their two fresh fragrant cheeks and scraped them with his beard so that they shrieked. Ginny appeared in the bedroom door and wheeled the breakfast cart the rest of the way so that he could eat in bed. She sat beside him on the edge of the bed, pouring his coffee, buttering his toast. The two young daughters sat on the bedroom couch watching him. They were too old now for pillow fights or to trove ps4 flux be tossed around. They were already smoothing their mussed hair. Oh, Christ, he thought, pretty soon they'll be all grown up, Hollywood punks will be out after them.
He shared his toast and bacon with them as he ate, gave them sips of coffee. It was a habit left over from when he had been singing with the band and rarely ate with them so they liked to buy trove flux buy trove flux share his food when he had his odd-hour meals like afternoon breakfasts or morning suppers. The change-around in food delighted them--- to buy trove flux buy trove flux eat steak and french fries at seven in the morning, bacon and eggs in the afternoon.
Only Ginny and a few of his close friends knew how much he idolized his daughters. That had been the worst thing about the divorce and leaving home. The one thing he had fought about, and for, was his position as a father to buy trove flux buy trove flux them. In a very sly way he had made Ginny understand he would not be pleased by her remarrying, not because he was jealous of her, but because he was jealous of his position as a father. He had arranged the money to buy trove flux buy trove flux be paid to buy trove flux buy trove flux her so it would be enormously to buy trove flux buy trove flux her advantage financially not to buy trove flux buy trove flux remarry. It was understood that she could have lovers as long as they were not introduced into buy trove flux buy trove flux her home life. But on this score he had absolute faith in her. She had always been amazingly shy and old-fashioned in sex. The Hollywood gigolos had batted zero when they started swarming around her, sniffing for the financial settlement and the favors they could get from her famous husband.
He had no fear that she expected a reconciliation because he had wanted to buy trove flux buy trove flux sleep with her the night before. Neither one of them wanted to buy trove flux buy trove flux renew their old marriage. She understood his hunger for beauty, his irresistible impulse toward young women far more beautiful than she. It was known that he always slept with his movie co-stars at least once. His boyish charm was irresistible to trove ps4 flux them, as their beauty was to buy trove flux buy trove flux him.